61-Year-Old Sentenced After Collecting 22K Child Porn Images

CHICAGO (STMW) — An FBI search of a west suburban home uncovered about 22,000 images and 186 videos of child pornography and child erotica,and on Monday, the homeowner was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

James Thielberg, 61, pleaded guilty last September to using his personal computer to search for, download, view and trade child pornography from 2000 through 2010, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

On Monday the former Villa Park resident was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The sentence, 120 months followed by lifetime supervised release and restrictions on computer and Internet use, was imposed by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, the release said. Thielberg was also ordered to pay $5,000 restitution to identified victims of child porn whose images he transported or stored on his computer.

On three occasions in late 2009 and early 2010, undercover law enforcement officers, all outside of Illinois, posed as “friends,” using an Internet-based peer-to-peer file sharing network to downloaded numerous images of child pornography from Thielberg’s computer, the release said.

Thielberg has been in federal custody since his arrest in January 2010 after the FBI search of his home, which found that he sorted, categorized and catalogued some of his collection by creating user folders, the release said.

The collection of child porn demonstrated a strong sexual interest in children, and more particularly, in pain, bondage and sadomasochistic behavior with children and infants, according to court documents.

Theilberg must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release, and there is no parole in the federal prison system.